


Southern Lights

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, M/M, Plot What Plot, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-29
Updated: 2008-11-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:23:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When John ferries a new scientist to the classified outpost close to McMurdo, he finds his passenger interesting in all the right ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Southern Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **McSheplets** #33. Black

The black mark on his record had effectively ended his military career, and any other soldier might have taken the hint and resigned his commission but not John. Instead he'd stuck it out, let them transfer him to the wastes of Antarctica because going back for Holland had been the right thing to do. The fact that they didn't ground him was testament to the fact that they knew it too but were trapped behind their rules and regulations. The only one who'd shown even a modicum of respect for John's actions was Colonel O'Neill, though he was also the one who had recommended sending him to Antarctica.

John accepted it all stoically. He'd disobeyed the order of a commanding officer after all, and all for nothing as Holland hadn't made it.

After the yellow and orange of Afghanistan, the endless sheets of pristine white ice were healing to his mind and soul. The cold air was crisp and clean, stripping away any remnants of desert sands and the smell of explosives, aviation fuel and blood. Within a month John was sure some pen-pusher had made a mistake as this place could never be considered a punishment to him. Even the bitching of the scientists he had recently started ferrying out to some secret scientific outpost was fun in its own way.

He recalled one scientist in particular. Pissy and arrogant upfront but John could read the excitement and fear hidden behind crystal blue eyes. This place was important to the man and John had wondered at the time if the science outpost had been this guy's last chance to prove himself. Getting the guy to take his head out of his laptop and look through the cockpit to the amazing scenery below had taken a few careful swoops.

He thought back to that day...

"Hey! Call yourself a pilot? My sister could fly this thing better... My! That's...that's amazing."

Below them, the ice seemed to stretch to the horizon, smoothed by the wind to form dunes of snow, the shadows beneath reflecting the clear sky in tones of the richest blue. A dark speck appeared in the distance and John could see his passenger was captivated by the only landmark that quickly grew into the shape of the scientific outpost. John looked across and was momentarily captivated by the wide blue eyes and softly parted lips.

The ice wasn't the only amazing sight out here today.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat and focused back on piloting. "You should check out the light show at this time of year."

"That light show, as you so quaintly put it, is merely the collision of charged particles from Earth's magnetosphere..."

"Still worth looking at," John stated.

His passenger nodded, a quirk of a smile lifting the downturn of his lips and John had a feeling that the man would do it too.

"In S...Siberia, I used to go out and watch the Aurora Borealis when I couldn't sleep. I could compare them."

John grinned. Trust a scientist to find a scientific reason rather than simply looking for the sheer beauty of the magnificent display. He had noticed the slight stutter over the word Siberia, and he wondered if that had been this guy's equivalent of a black mark punishment.

John recognized the man who came out to greet them as someone he'd flown in only a week earlier. Daniel Jackson was a nice enough guy and had spent the entire trip to the outpost engaging him in conversation about John's posting to Antarctica. He'd wanted to know what John had seen, what he had done, where he had come from and where he was going. When John deigned to answer one question, Jackson had merely moved on to another, never really pushing and yet managing to get more out of John in that hour long flight than a dozen psychologists had managed during his entire military career. He liked Jackson and word had it that Colonel O'Neill had known him--and had liked him too, except O'Neill seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth several weeks back after an even more amazing light show had taken place over the ice in this general direction. John kept that thought to himself though.

"Major Sheppard," Jackson greeted him warmly, holding out a hand after greeting John's passenger, who finally had a name--Rodney McKay.

"Dr. Jackson," John shook his hand and followed both scientists out of the cold air.

"You know, I still haven't seen those lights," Jackson mentioned softly to John.

Another man joined them, his hair swept back into a pony tail, a sneer prominent on his face. John wasn't the only pilot flying out of McMurdo so he'd not seen this guy before but he had a feeling that wasn't too much of a loss. The man had the same pissy and arrogant exterior as McKay but it wasn't hiding a vulnerable core. At least that was a redeeming quality for John's most recent passenger.

"I'm sure McKay had plenty of time to study the lights in Siberia," he sneered almost maliciously, a smug grin showing there was little love lost between the two.

The words proved that Siberia had been some kind of punishment and with his own black mark still taunting him, John disliked the way Kavanagh rubbed it in for McKay. He sensed McKay was about to erupt in anger and interceded, looking directly at McKay.

"You know, I'm sure I felt something hinky on the way in. Maybe I'll get the mechanic to check it out and fly back tomorrow."

"Hinky?" McKay looked aghast and stared back through the door at what he probably now believed was a death trap of a helicopter. John noticed Jackson's mouth twitch in a fond smile and turned to him.

"Maybe you and Dr. McKay would like to check out the lights with me tonight. The Met guy said it's going to be a great show, may be one of the best of the year." When Kavanagh opened his mouth, possibly to invite himself along, John pointedly refused to extend the invitation with a black glare that had Kavanagh tripping back several feet before he walked away in a huff. John had schooled his face back into a charming look by the time he turned back to Jackson and McKay.

"We'd like that." Jackson smiled and, grasping McKay by the arm, he started leading the confused and vociferous scientist away but glanced back over his shoulder. "Midnight?"

John nodded, shaking his head and smiling as they disappeared from view. He heard an elevator start up and wondered what could be so important beneath the ice, deciding that it was probably a meteorite as McKay hadn't struck him as the environmental scientist type looking at ice core samples.

***

At this time of year, the sun barely scraped below the horizon for a few short hours; though if they were any closer to the South Pole then they wouldn't see darkness for another two months, after that it would be six months of darkness with winter setting in. Most of the scientists here would be flown back to McMurdo but some had elected to stay through the colder months, intent on their work. John wouldn't be going anywhere either, even though he was due some leave. He had nothing to go back to and heading out to some place warm would only make him feel colder when he returned. He was happy enough to wait out the winter months with McMurdo's extensive DVD collection and piles of magazines and comics left behind by the others.

When McKay and Jackson arrived, they were already buried inside several layers of bulky clothing and pulling on parkas and mittens. The temperature would have dropped substantially in the last hour so all those layers would be needed even though the wind had died down and there was little chance of snow. Once John was sure both scientists were bundled up correctly, with no layers exposed beneath the outer shell of their parkas and overpants, they went out.

John took them only a very short distance from the outpost, just far enough to lose the orange glow from the outpost lights.

He heard a muffled, "Oh my! That is really something," from McKay and let the scientists take in their fill of the beautiful Aurora Australis before deciding they'd been out in the cold long enough.

Jackson excused himself almost immediately, leaving John alone with McKay. After removing the bulky outer layers, they wandered into the area set up with hot food and drinks, and John couldn't help but grin as McKay listed all his allergies to the dismay of the poor serviceman dishing up the food. John had a feeling that by the end of the week the kitchen staff would have _smilies labels of death_ on anything containing citrus just for McKay's benefit.

As they talked, John noticed McKay's interest in him, and he made sure McKay knew he was interested too, almost laughing at McKay's poor attempt to be nonchalant when he invited John to collect something from the tiny quarters he had been allocated. Something told him McKay didn't get many sexual invitations despite being kind of hot in his own way.

As soon as the hatch door shut behind them John wasted no time pinning McKay to the door and ravaging his mouth with a kiss. His hands pushed up under the layers of fleece and long sleeved shirt, hearing McKay hiss as John's cold fingers found hot skin. With thin walls and no guarantee of privacy, John knew he had to make it quick and quiet but this could easily be his last chance of sex with a real person rather than with his own right hand for several more months. It seemed McKay was just as desperate; tiny whimpers caught behind his lips as his fingers fumbled at John's pants, drawing John's cock out into the cool air. Suddenly, McKay was gone, dropping to his knees, his hot breath wafting over the tip of John's cock before the head was engulfed in wet heat. John smacked his head back against the door, hands grabbing at McKay's baby-fine hair as the man sucked and licked him to the most amazing, brain-numbing, quick and dirty climax. Impatient noises brought him back to Earth, his hand grabbed and thrust downwards to wrap around McKay's hardened length. John squeezed experimentally and heard another muffled whimper as McKay bit into a knuckle, eyes wide and pupils blown. John leaned in and caught McKay in a savage kiss, swallowing any cries of pleasure as McKay's hands scrabbled into his hair. It took only a few hard strokes before McKay climaxed, coating John's fingers with his release.

"Thank you, thank you." McKay seemed completely blissed out and John wondered if the guy had been through an even longer dry spell than John.

For once, the urge to lay back on the narrow cot and hold his new lover close was almost overpowering, and John wondered what it was about McKay that made him feel that way. He hesitated for a moment but common sense prevailed.

"I can't stay."

McKay nodded and waved a hand, seeming to be okay with that but John could tell that the man would have liked more than just a quick fumble. As he let himself out of McKay's room, John wished he could stay but he was already staggering under the weight of one black mark on his record, and if anyone caught him with McKay then the regulations would bury him.

Still, as he walked away feeling lighter and more alive than in months, he hoped there would be a next time, with an excuse to spend a lot more time getting to know Rodney McKay better...

His thoughts returned to the present. It was seven months later, and as he closed his eyes and stepped through the Stargate on a possible one-way trip to another galaxy, he knew he had been granted his wish.

THE END


End file.
